Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Inside the cave, the chaos outside could not be heard. It was completely silent, the sounds outside being buried by the thick aura that coated the air. It was ominous, dark. It wasn't direct poison, per se, but it felt like it.

Cyanide and Ragnar walked closely together, careful to not be separated. The coat and dense air that shrouded the entire cave's interior was not forgiving, and would punish the two if they let their guards down for even one single moment.

After sniffing the air, Cyanide determined the direction of the root of this air, and shot a glance at Ragnar. Understanding the meaning of his gaze, Ragnar gave a nod, and followed after him.

Soon, they arrived at what looked like a massive tumor. It was noxious, emitting the virus's purple energy all around it, and had a stone outer shell around it. It pulsed with light, pumping the venomous virus-filled air out with every time it glowed.

"… So, we just got destroy that, huh?" Ragnar muttered, readying his stone greatsword.

"Seems like it. But-"

"Flaming Crescent!"

Cyanide had been about to tell him to wait and observe for a little longer, but it was already too late. Ragnar unleashed a deadly crescent-shaped projectile of raw fire at the tumor, striking its shell directly. Unfortunately, the stone absorbed the fire, rendering his attack completely useless.

"… Tch. Pretty tough, for a slightly-decorated piece of rock. And wait… is it just me, or is it getting bigger?"

Ragnar was right—the tumor had increased in size just a little as a result of the attack. It would seem the rock shell had absorbed the energy of the Soul Art, and converted it into energy for the virus tumor.

"… This is why I was going to tell you to wait," Cyanide muttered. "Look up there."

Ragnar followed where Cyanide was pointing with his gaze, and arched an eyebrow. "Tendrils, of some sort…?"

"That seems to be what's fueling power to the tumor," Cyanide analyzed, lifting his gun and aiming at the two twisted vein-like rock tentacles hanging the tumor in the air. Then, he unleashed two bullets, each accurately hitting one of the two tentacles. They swung a bit, but didn't break.

Ragnar, seeing this, gave a chuckle and stepped forward.

"Can't be attacking like that, little guy. To take out something like this… you need the big boy weapons."

As if to demonstrate, Ragnar leaped upwards and swung at the two tendrils with his massive stone greatsword, shattering the two tentacles instantly.

The massive tumor fell to the cavefloor, shaking the earth. Standing atop of it, Ragnar rubbed his nose in triumph, greatsword over his back.

"Heh. Just like that."

But Cyanide, completely unamused, merely pointed up, above Ragnar's head.

"…?" Ragnar turned up, confused, and saw multiple enormous stalactites shaking above him.

"… Oh, crud."

Immediately, he leaped off the top of the massive stone-encased tumor as the chunks of rock came crashing down, and he landed on the ground solidly, using his greatsword to balance himself. Then, glaring at Cyanide, he gave a snort.

"… You baited me to do that on purpose, didn't you?"

Cyanide closed his eyes and shrugged, then opened them again and stepped closer to the tumor, now with layers of rock piled on top of it. He bent down, pointed his gun at the center of the debris, and unleashed a bullet.

Instantly, from the pile of rock rose the massive tumor once more, though it was no longer attached to the cave ceiling. Instead, it was now simply hovering in the air, with those two tendrils hanging to the ceiling from earlier now converted into long, colossal arms made of pure rock. The stone casing around it shifted and opened up slightly, revealing an eye-like inner purple core that glowed and pulsed.

"… Hmph. Knew you weren't dead," Cyanide muttered, backing away a good distance.

"So, that's its true form, huh?" Ragnar said, stepping up beside him. "Well, a few good swings will do the trick."

"Do you not learn?" Cyanide asked, staring at him coldly, but to that, Ragnar only gave a low chuckle and tightened his grip on his greatsword.

"Heh… nothing can't be solved with a good beating."

Growing tired of the two's little conversation, the massive flying tumor swung one of its stone arms down between the two, and Cyanide and Ragnar both leaped away, albeit the latter was far slower. The creature, however, did not stop there.

Swinging its long tendrils against the pillars and stalagmites in the cave without any remorse, the tumor destroyed anything who got within range and seemed to show no sign of ending this rampage anytime soon. Cyanide looked for any sign of openings or weaknesses, and ultimately determined that the purple core was what they needed to hit. But the question was… how were they going to even get close like this?

The next time the tumor swung down with one of its tendrils and hit the ground, however, Ragnar was ready. Smirking, he immediately began his counterattack. Hopping onto the creature's tentacle and using his own weight to keep it down, he rushed upwards towards the creature's core and slammed down with his greatsword.

The massive tumor immediately shielded its inner core with its stone shell, but as a result, this left the other end open. Cyanide, sliding underneath the same tentacle Ragnar had stepped on, emerged on the other side, and hip-fired an array of bullets directly into the tumor's exposed core.

"EEEE-!"

A loud shriek echoed across the interior of the cave as the core was damaged, but the duo wasn't quite done yet. The tumor was confused at being attacked from both sides, and for a moment, its defenses were left completely down. Cyanide had done so much to give Ragnar this beautiful opening—he wasn't about to squander it and let it go to waste.

With a dangerous gleam in his eyes, he charged up a Fire Affinity Weapon Art:

"Searing… Edge!"